


If the Shoe Fits...

by Summer_Meadows



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24261832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summer_Meadows/pseuds/Summer_Meadows
Summary: All is going well in Neal's life as he lives in his "dream with an anklet attached" world. However, that is quickly changing after the iconic 'Wizard of Oz' red heels are stolen and Neal is brought face to face with a blast from his past.
Relationships: Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke, Peter Burke & Neal Caffrey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	1. Ruby Reds and Regrets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BabyStepsAreStillSteps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyStepsAreStillSteps/gifts).



As he waited for the morning briefing to begin, Neal pulled out his phone. A smile danced across his lips when he saw that Alex had responded to his earlier message. He had sent a joke that he personally thought was endlessly witty and clever, 

"Why can you never tell a kleptomaniac a joke? Because they take everything literally!" 😊

She must have disagreed that it was the epitome of humor because she only sent back,

"Neal…I gave you this number so you could get in touch with me in case of an emergency, not so you could send me, well it wasn’t a joke because it wasn’t funny, so I don’t even know how to classify whatever that was."

"Yeah, Peter’s terrible puns must be infectious, they’re wearing off on me!" Neal responded. 

"The true worst consequence of getting caught…the contagious bad puns," Alex replied.

Just as he was contemplating his response, Peter walked in and the meeting was beginning. 

The projector sprang to life and Jones stood to begin his presentation. The first slide showed a pristine image of dazzling red high heels.

“These,” Jones began “are the red ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland while portraying Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." This picture was taken on Constitution Avenue in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian.”

“Yeah,” Neal cut in -to the surprise of literally no one, “The movie was based off of L Frank Baum’s novel, yet to take advantage of the new technicolor technology of the time, the shoes were changed from the book’s silver coloring to iconic bright red. There were several pairs of Ruby Slippers made for the movie, which was pretty typical of important props. That is actually a mismatched pair, one from the first prop pair and one from the sixth pair. They are size 5’s and adorned with three types of beads and rhinestones.”

“Okay, now how do you just know that off of the top of your head?” Diana asked with an exasperated look.

He gave his classic million-dollar smile and said, “That movie is an important part of American history, how do you not know it off the top of your head?” 

“Because I spent my valuable time becoming a black belt in Judo, Karate, Aikido, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so I can know dozens of katas off the top of my head to send you sailing across the room, instead of memorizing facts about some old vintage pair of shoes,” she retorted.

She raised an eyebrow challengingly as he accepted defeat.

In truth, he knew these shoes inside and out because he, what seemed like a lifetime ago, had been planning to steal this very special pair of kicks. True, they were worth a small fortune, but that is not why he wanted these iconic heals. The Wizard of Oz was Kate Moreau’s all-time favorite movie. From the time she was four to the time she was fourteen she had been Dorothy every year for Halloween, her first dog she adopted as a child was a small black Cairn Terrier which, of course, was named Toto, and the first alias she used when pulling a sting with Neal and Mozzie was "Dorthy." 

So yes, Neal knew the type of material and rhinestones that would be necessary to make an expert forgery to swap out for this pair of footwear off the top of his head. He knew how and where to forge the small “#1 Judy Garland” written on the right shoe and the “#6 Judy Garland” written on the left. He knew where the small scuff on the toe of the left shoe was and the missing sequin on the back of the right. He had planned it to be the final touch in his plan to convince Kate to stop running from him. However, a certain FBI agent had gotten in the way before he could set his plan into effect. 

“Anyway,” Jones continued, “Yesterday at 1:34 AM the shoes were stolen. The thief carefully avoided all of the obvious cameras using a hat.”

“I like them already,” Neal cut in. 

“However,” Jones continued, ignoring the interruption, “they didn’t anticipate a camera present within the display across from the slippers. So we do have a face to link to the criminal.” 

Jones flipped the slide to a picture of a young woman, probably around twenty-four or twenty-five. She had her straight brown hair pulled back in a pony tale and dazzling bright blue eyes. The picture was taken from the camera within the museum, as she glanced over her shoulder; she was wearing all black, including the black hat. 

Neal glanced up at the picture and his eyes widened as he suddenly went quite pale.

Quickly trying to mask his shock before any of the agents around him took note, he composed himself. 

Peter was looking at the picture, squinting in concentration.

“She looks vaguely familiar,” he said trying to place how he recognized her.

“We don’t yet have a name to connect to the face” Jones repeated, “yet, we should by the end of the day. We have FR, facial recognition, running it now. That is unless you recognize her and can save us the trouble, Caffrey?” 

He turned to Neal expectantly. Neal was taken slightly off guard, “Oh…um, yeah I can…check with my contacts.” He responded without his usual air of confidence about him. 

Peter, Diana, and Jones all turned to look at him questioningly, yet didn’t say anything. 

“Okay, well I suppose all we can do is wait for FR to get us those results,” Peter said.

As the ten or so agents who had been in the room filed out Peter asked that Neal stay for a minute. 

“So, you have no idea of who she might be?” Peter asked knowing that there was something that Neal wasn’t telling him.

“Like I said, I’ll have to check with my contacts,” Neal said carefully not answering the question so he could keep his 'I would never lie to you' statement valid. 

“Hmmm…Alright, let me know when you hear back.”

“Yeah of course, oh one random and completely hypothetical question. If we were, say, to recover the slippers and they were undamaged, there would be no reason to press any charges against this young thief, would there? I mean if they were retrieved and, since her crime was non-violent, she could probably argue full immunity for the slippers, right? For instance, the woman who stole the imperial Chinese jade elephants bargained the treasure in exchange for only four years, and she killed someone. So it stands to reason that immunity may be on the table.”

Peter looked at Neal, now very suspicious, as he said, “I suppose it is possible, if they were to be returned and undamaged.”

“Okay, that was purely hypothetical of course,” Neal said.

“of course,” Peter said in a tone that indicated he knew there was nothing hypothetical about it. 

“I was thinking of taking an early lunch break,” Neal said. 

“Already? It’s ten o’clock” Peter said as he looked at his watch. 

“Yeah, well that’s where the early part of the early lunch comes in. I didn’t have the chance to eat breakfast so…”

“Okay, fine,” Peter said.

“Great, thanks” Neal replied as he headed towards the stairs and out the door of the NY White Collar Headquarters. 

He walked to his apartment, for once actually hoping to find Mozzie over uninvited going through his wine collection. Neal’s wish was granted as he walked in to find Mozzie examining a very expensive bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac that lay on the wine rack.

“Great, you’re here.” Neal said.

Mozzie spun around, “Wasn’t expecting you here so early, but as Lori Hooversom said, we strive to ‘expect the unexpected, believe in the unbelievable, and achieve the unachievable,’” he said as he set the bottle of wine down on the counter and went to get a glass.

“We’ve got a problem,” Neal said.

“I still think we should copyright that line for how often we say it. What this time?” Mozzie asked, looking over at Neal.

Molly stole the Smithsonian pair of ruby reds and the FBI got her on camera. They’re running facial recognition now, I need to get in contact with her. Can you find her?”

“Molly Moreau?” he asked.

Neal shook his head in confirmation. 

“Yeah, I’ll start asking around. What are you going to do when we find her?” Mozzie asked.

“Well Peter said that full immunity is a possibility if she returns the slippers, maybe I’ll be able to convince her to return them.” 

Mozzie nodded his acceptance of Neal’s answer, grabbed the bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac, and went in search of Kate’s only sibling.


	2. In the Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal continues his search for Molly as he tries to find a solution that will make all interested parties, Molly and the FBI, happy.

“Really? He just went home? Straight to his apartment?” Peter asked Jones whom he had sent to tail Neal after his abrupt departure.

“Yes,” Jones answered for around the fifth time, “straight to his apartment. He didn’t stop to go in anywhere or talk to anyone.”

“Okay, thank you Jones,” Peter said, “I expect we will have more answers once we get a name back from FR. She looks so familiar, I just can’t put my finger on it.”

\---------------------

Neal’s allotted half-hour for his lunch break was quickly coming to a close, so he briskly returned to work. As he was pushing open the glass doors that led to the White Collar division with the highest close rate in the nation, his phone buzzed. He went to his desk and glanced down at the text.

It was the number that Alex had given him to reach her and it read, 'Rumor has it you’re looking for Molly. I may be able to help with that. She is willing to get in touch via the number below.'  
'(357)224-7543'

Neal read the message and gratefully typed, 'Thank you Alex, I know you and Kate had your differences. I appreciate your help in finding Molly.'

He then slipped into the empty hallway outside and called the number. Unsure of how to convince Molly to return the shoes---that outrunning the FBI, particularly Peter Burke was easier said than done, he pondered the best approach.

Of course he knew why she had stolen them, as an odd and illegal memorial to her sister. He understood her motive, and typically wouldn’t deter a young thief from joining the trade, but in this case he felt he owed it to Kate to do all he could to keep her little sister out of prison.

“Hello,” came the voice on the other end of the line.

“Hey Molly, this is Neal!” he replied happy to hear her voice. 

Molly and Neal had been friends since back in the glory days of running street cons with the three less-than-legal musketeers, Mozzie, Kate, and himself. She had even helped them pull a ‘Lazy Susan’ a time or two, though the trio made sure she was never in a position that, should they be caught, she could be arrested. Kate was protective of her sister and, though her sister had no qualms about Kate’s unlawful choice in careers, Kate generally kept her out of most of it.

Thankfully, Molly did not blame Neal for the tragic inferno that had taken Kate two years prior, but they had fallen out of touch as they both struggled to deal with the whirl wind of emotions that haunted their memory of that day. 

“Hey Nealio! I heard you were looking for me, what’s up?”

“I need to talk to you about your weekend activity, while I am, of course, very impressed at your ability to not set off a single alarm while breaking into one of the best protected museums in America, I’m afraid the FBI is close on your tail,” Neal said.

“Well if I had completed this alleged crime, I would certainly not have left behind any evidence. I don’t know why you think the Feds picked up my trail, but they won’t find anything that will hold up in court,” she said confidently.

“Molly, they have you on camera; they saw your face!” Neal protested. 

“That’s impossible, I was very careful! I wore a hat and used it to dodge the cameras,” she countered.

“Yes, I did like the hat, very nice touch, but there was a hidden camera in the exhibit across from the heels. Ever since that pair of Ruby Reds in the Museum in Grand Rapids Minnesota were stolen they’ve been protective of the remaining pairs of kicks."

“Oh no, that I did not expect…What am I supposed to do?” She inquired, panic clearly rising in her voice.

“I was talking to Agent Peter Burke with the White Collar Division about this dilemma, and he said full immunity could be on the table,” Neal answered. 

“Burke, as in Burke the Jerk?” Molly queried. 

Neal chuckled to himself despite the seriousness of the situation as he remembered the old mnemonic device he had assigned on the first day he met the man who would become one of his best friends. 

“Yes, if you return the heels to me, I can return them to Peter in exchange for your immunity,” he confirmed.

“You really trust him? He’ll keep his word?” She asked.

“Yes, he is always a man of his word. I would trust him with my life and promise you can trust him with this,” Neal said.

The other end of the phone was silent for a minute as she considered this. Trust was not something that any con artist, Neal in particular, dealt out plentifully. When someone had his trust, they had earned it which is what inspired her to say, “Okay, deal. Give me an address and I’ll send you a meet time.”

“Thank you Molly, I’ll see you soon,” he said as he clicked ‘end call.’ 

As he contemplated a meeting point he decided that Peter would be extra vigilant in checking his anklet so the safest meeting place would be June’s house, so Neal could be in his apartment if Peter were to check the anklet. His plan was to meet Molly ahead of time and then act as the middleman during the returning of the shoes. Of course he had been telling the truth, he did trust Peter completely and if Peter agreed to full immunity he would not go back on his word, but in these situations it was usually best to have a middleman and never have the opposing parties meet. 

He sent Molly the address and within seconds felt his phone buzz with a response that only read '7:00.'

Just as he was walking back to his desk he saw Peter give him his classic “double finger point” that they allegedly teach at Quantico. Neal rolled his eyes at the dramatic gesture as he thought to himself, 'I am the one who is supposed to have a flare for the dramatics, when Peter does it, it just seems incorrect.'

“Hey Peter” he said as he mounted the final stair.

“Have your sources gotten back to you yet? Do you know anything about our thief?” Peter asked as they both made their way into his office. 

“I don’t know where her current whereabouts are,” he said, carefully sidestepping the question in order not to answer with a true lie. 

“About our earlier conversation,” Neal continued, “Is full immunity guaranteed to be on the table in exchange for the undamaged rather famous shinny shoes?”

Peter studied him, knowing perfectly well that Neal had some personal stake in all of this that he wasn’t telling him. 

Peter considered the facts:

1\. Even if Neal didn’t always do the right thing, he always acted for the right reasons. He wouldn’t be trying to get someone who was truly bad off the hook, if he cared about and trusted this young thief that meant she was likely misguided, but not truly sinister. 

2\. If she had a prior criminal record, then FR would not be taking this long to find a name. On convicted mob members and dangerous criminals with rap sheets longer than the Hudson river, FR could pop out a name in a matter of seconds. If it was her first time maybe just the scare of arrest would be enough to set her straight.

Peter took a deep breath as he prepared to give Neal the answer he was so clearly hoping for. 

“Yes, full immunity guaranteed provided that the shoes are returned with NO damage,” Peter confirmed.

“Excellent, well if I were you I would rest easy with a strong feeling that those shoes will be found on your desk tomorrow morning,” Neal foretold with his classic up-to-something smile. 

Peter rolled his eyes as Neal strolled out of his office. One day he was going to tell Neal “no” and stick to it on something and Neal would have no idea how to react in such a foreign circumstance.


	3. Roses are Red and These Heels are Too, if not Returned by Tomorrow, All Involved Will be Blue

As the hands on the clock stretched away from each other to form a vertical line, Neal picked up his hat and made his exit. He was on his way home with an hour to spare before the meeting. 

Entering his apartment, he walked over to his sketch pad and went to work on an impressively realistic drawing. When the piece of artwork was complete, he took a step back to inspect it.

His over-sized piece of sketchbook paper showed a beautifully illustrated pair of ruby red slippers. He had decided that since Molly would be parting with the pair she had worked so hard to gain, the least Neal could do was give her another pair in exchange. The only untrue detail was that instead of reading “#1 Judy Garland” on the right shoe and “#6 Judy Garland,” the name was replaced with “Kate Moreau.”

His attention was stolen from the illustration as he heard a knock at the door. He went to open it and found Molly standing in the door frame holding a bag with a conspicuously red and shiny item partially visible.

He opened the door further as an invitation to come in.

“Nice place,” she said as she placed the bag on the table. She then turned, now that her hands were free, and gave Neal a hug. He truly was like a big brother she had never had and she had missed him. She had kept meaning to get back in touch, but as they both worked through the grieving process she had avoided New York, the site of the explosion, and therefore grown temporarily apart from Neal.

He gave a happy smile as he reciprocated the hug, he was grateful that she didn’t hold any resentment towards him for Kate’s death, that she had recognized that it wasn’t his doing. 

They fell into easy conversation as each joke cracked made the other laugh loud enough they could likely be heard from the sidewalk outside the apartment despite the noisy New York traffic. 

After about an hour and a half of chatting and sharing their newest stories, Molly decided it best to “make like a tree and leave” if she wanted to make the four hour trip home before it got too late. She lived in Washington DC, which made the Smithsonian Museum a close target. She had picked the time, while Neal had picked the location, for the meet so she would have able time to drive to NYC to make the exchange. 

Neal stood and walked over to where he had laid his most recent piece of artwork. 

“Here,” he said with a smile, “so you don’t feel like you left empty handed.”

“Thanks Nealio,” she said as she accepted the gift, “I’ll see you around, that number Alex gave you is my new cell number, if you ever need me or just want to talk give me a call.”

“Careful, Alex made that same mistake of giving me her permanent number and now she is frequently gifted with my hilarious, if I do say so myself, humor that I am not sure she properly appreciates,” he said with a grin. 

“I’ll take my chances, if you call, I’ll answer,” she said as she turned and left the lavish apartment. 

Neal then went over to the bag and pulled out the two shoes and turned each one over in his hand. The right one looked exactly the same as it had behind the museum glass, it had the small missing sequin on the back that was lost during the iconic performance of “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” but was otherwise flawless. He placed it on the table and then examined the left one. The front was perfectly preserved with no blemish except for the small scuff on the toe from where Judy Garland had grazed it on a stone during her performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the back was also perfectly…UH OH…on the back of the left shoe was an imperfection that had not been there one day earlier when these shoes had been sitting in the Smithsonian! 

There were two missing sequins on the back that would likely go unnoticed by Peter but would definitely be noted and reported by a museum curator. Peter had made it clear that this deal relied on the fact that the shoes be returned with no damage. Neal had promised Peter he would find the ruby reds on his desk by nine o’clock the next day, which meant Neal had roughly twelve hours to come to a solution and fix the shoes.

Luckily he knew just who to go to who would be able to help him out of this pinch…


	4. The Forger's ForgatheRED

“Well if it isn’t Caffery the Catastrophe,” Danya said looking up from a painting that shared suspiciously remarkable resemblance to Rembrandt's ‘Storm on the Sea of Galilee.’

“Hey Danya the Disaster, how have you been?” he asked as he grinned at their nicknames for each other.

Neal and Danya had met shortly after Neal had met Mozzie. They had a lot in common, including an adoration for less-than-legal artistic careers. Danya was incredible at procuring the raw materials needed for a perfect forgery and had proven herself quite reliable to Neal and Mozzie on many occasions over the years.

“I have a problem I would appreciate your help in solving,” Neal began as he pulled the shoes out from the bag he had carried them in, “I’m looking for a red sequin that perfectly matches these circa 1939 Warm Crimson #479 sequins. Mozzie heard you might be able to help, which is why I’m here.”

Danya examined the shoes with interest, “I might have just the thing.”

She turned on her heels and went swiftly into the storage area of her pawn shop. Neal could hear her rummaging through miscellaneous draws and boxes until finally, about twenty minutes later, she returned holding a small clear bag containing sequins identical to the ones adorning the shoes in Neal’s hands.

Neal smiled with relief as he looked closer at the sequins.

“Perfect! How much to take two of those sequins off your hands?” Neal asked.

She took an empty Ziploc bag out of her pocket and gingerly fished out two of the sequins, placed them in the bag, and handed it to Neal.

“They’re yours,” she declared.

“Really? You never do pro bono!” Neal said with surprise.

“That’s correct, I don’t. I still owe you for helping me out with running that ‘bird dog, scratch on dip’ op I pulled back in 02, consider this repayment,” she answered.

“Great, consider us even! By the way, why would you, allegedly of course, have these on hand?” he asked with an implying smile.

“Hmmm, well they would have been necessary for an alleged forgery for an alleged theft from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids Minnesota in August of 2005,” she answered with a proud grin.

“I had wondered whose work that was, should have guessed. Thanks again,” he said as he waved goodbye and exited the small shop.


	5. Caught Red Handed

Neal had just finished securing the two sequins to the shoe, when he heard a knock at the door. He hurriedly hid the shoes in the closest hiding place and then opened the door to find a very annoyed looking Peter.

“Peter, what a pleasant surprise, what can I do for you?” he asked in a tone he hoped sounded innocent.

Peter huffed a sign of exasperation as he walked into Neal’s lavish apartment.

“You didn’t recognize the thief, huh? You had to ‘check with your sources,’ did you?” Peter implored.

“I never said I didn’t know her, I just said I would ask my sources, those aren’t mutually exclusive statements,” Neal chided.

“FR finished running and now I know why she looked so familiar. Molly Moreau, only sibling of Kate Moreau, but you already knew that,” Peter continued, ignoring Neal’s comment.

“Oh, is that who she was? Yeah, I thought she looked so familiar, well that explains it!” Neal proclaimed.

Peter shook his head in exasperation at his CI’s antics.

“Well it’s pretty late,” Neal continued, “so I’ll see you tomorrow, if there was nothing else. Thanks for stopping by!”

“Yeah, not so fast, what was so interesting about the NY Pawnshop Emporium that you felt the need to pay it a visit at 11:30 at night?” Peter asked.

“Oh you know,” Neal started, “it’s in my radius and it just seemed like a lovely night to check out some pawned goods.”

“Hmm, fine” Peter said unimpressed by Neal’s answer, “remember the deal only holds if you get the shoes on my desk by 9:00 AM and next time, well there really shouldn’t be any sort of next time but with you there probably will be, don’t waste FBI resources having us run a name through FR if you know who the thief is, Neal.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” Neal said, carefully choosing his words as not to make any commitment that he would share information should a next time occur, “See you tomorrow!”

He watched Peter exit the apartment, smiling to himself as he took a moment to be grateful that he had a handler who would allow him to make a deal to bend the normal laws of thievery being met with incarceration, and let his friend walk with only minimal grumbling in doing so.

\---------------------------------

The next morning Peter entered his office to find an elaborate gift box on his desk. He opened it to reveal two red ruby heels and a note, which read:

"Two undamaged Ruby Reds, and unlike Dorthy I didn't even have to drop a house on someone to get them!" 


End file.
